The 20,000-seat BankAtlantic Center, which was completed in 1998, is home to the NHL’s Florida Panthers. The arena has previously hosted Strikeforce and EliteXC events.

UFC on FX 3 is the first UFC event in Florida since UFC Fight Night 17 took place at Tampa’s USF Sun Dome in early 2009. Fort Lauderdale has never previously hosted a UFC show.

McCall and Johnson kicked off the UFC’s inaugural four-man flyweight
tournament this past month at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney. After a spirited
bout, Johnson initially was named the split-decision winner. Officials
then said the scorecards were added incorrectly and Johnson actually was
a majority-decision winner. But later in the night at the event’s
post-fight press conference, Craig Waller, the executive director of the
Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales, said he recorded a judge’s
score incorrectly (it should have been 10-8 instead of 10-9) and that
the fight actually resulted in a majority draw via scores of 28-28,
29-29 and 29-28 (for Johnson).

The UFC had planned for such a scenario and required McCall vs. Johnson
(as well as Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani) to have mandatory sudden-victory fourth rounds. However, the
tabulation error was caught so late in the night that McCall and Johnson
couldn’t do the fourth round. So now, they rematch at UFC on FX 3, and the
winner meets Benavidez later this year, when they fight for the UFC’s
first-ever flyweight title.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.